Reinforced-concrete floor and ceiling construction.



F. BURCHARTZ. REINFORCED CONCRETE FLOOR AND CEILING CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED IAN- IO, IBIZ- Patented May 25, 1915.

nwavron E JIMMY! Jim/kw? BY WITNESSES THE NDRRIS PETERS CO" PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON. D. C.

FERDINAND BUROHARTZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., .ASSIGNOR T0 BURCHARTZ FIRE- ]?ROOFING- COMPANY, INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

REINFORCED-CONCRETE FLOOR AND CEILING CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1915.

Application filed. January 10, 1912. Serial No. 670,352.

To all whom it may concern 'Be it known that I, FERDINAND BUROHARTZ, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Reinforced-Concrete' Floor and Ceiling Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to reinforced concrete floor and ceiling constructions of the kind in which open-ended blocks or tiles are arranged with their longitudinal axes extending at an angle to each other so as to form intersecting channels for tie-rods and cement or other coalescent material and in which the open ends of each block or tile are cllosed by portions of adjacent blocks or ti es.

My improvement has for its object to provide an improved block or tile which is extremely light'in weight, simple in construc tion and consequently cheap to manufacture and which is preferably made of individual parts which occupy a minimum of space and may consequently be readily shipped in large quantities and securely packed to guard against breakage during handling or shipment and which may further be readily and quickly set up in operative position by substantially unskilled labor.

My invention will be fully described hereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of one form of my improved block or tile; Fig. 2

is. a similar view of another form thereof;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a portion of a floor or ceiling with the form of block shown in Fig. 1 incorporatedtherein; Fig. 4 is a similar view showing use of the block illustrated in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5 is a plan view of Fig. 3.

Referring more particularly to the form of my invention shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings the tile or block comprises two elements A and B each of which is substantially U-shaped in cross-section. The element A is composed of a main portiona and members a which latter extend from opposite edges of said'portion a at preferably right angles thereto and are prefer ably integral therewith. The element B is similarly formed with a main portion 6 from the opposite edges of which members 6 project in such a manner as to be preferably perpendicular to said main portion 6. These members I) are likewise preferably made integral with the said main portion b and are further provided at their free ends with flanges b as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The elements A and B may be made of any suitable material such as terra cotta, concrete or the like, metal wire screening or mesh, wood or in fact any other material which can be formed or built into the desired shape or structure and which is suitable for the purpose intended. If the elements are made of material which can be properly manipulated they may each be made in one single piece, while if made of wood or the like the members aa' and bbb may be separate pieces properly secured together by screws, nails or other fastening medium. In all cases the material of which the element A is made is preferably lighter in weight than the material of which the element B is constructed thus reducing the weight of each assembled block to a minimum without in any way affecting its efficiency. In other words the material of which the element A. is formed need only be heavy enough so that the members a will efiectually resist or prevent the entrance of any of the coalescent material to, the interior of the block as this element A in thefinished construction isnotcalled upon to sustain any part of the weight of the completed floor or ceiling. On the other hand the element 13 must be made sufiiciently rigid to resist the pressure of the particular coalescent material which may be used in the floor or ceiling in which the blocks are incorporated.

In actual use the element B in an inverted position is placed within the element A intermediate of the members aand preferably centrally thereof with the flanges b resting upon the inside surface of the main portion a after which, if desired, suitable fastening means C such as clips or the like may be passed through said portion a and said flanges b to secure the two elements together in a unitary structure. These fastening means G are however not absolutely necessa y and may be omitted and if used at all are preferably introduced at or just prior to the time the blocks are to be actually incorporated in the floor or ceiling being constructed. After being thus assembled v or centering with the axes of adjacent blocks extending at substantially right angles to each other and in such a manner that the members a of eachcelement A will extend across and close the one open end of two oppositely located adjacent blocks as clearly shown in Fig. 3. l/Vith this arrangement intersecting channels D are formed in which the usual tie rodsE are placed and which are adapted to receive cement or other coalescent .material which material in some cases may. also extend over and cover the outer-surfaces of the elements B. It will be seen that the finished structure, the free ends of the membersa and the outer surfaces of the elements B are located in a commonplane, and thatsaid members a are of a width sufficient to extend beyond the inner surfaces of themembers b. The said members a will thus completely cover the open ends of the blocks and prevent the entrance of the coalescent material to vthe interior of said blocks. ,It will further beseen that the channels D are periodically interrupted by spaces D formed between opposed or adjacent ends of the short channels of each bloclrformed by the members a and 7) into whichspaces the coalescent material is also introduced. This;material located in said spaces D when set thus formskeys or projections which serve to maintain said blocks against any lateral movement'relatively to eachother so thatasolidmonolithic floor or ceiling results. The arrangement of blocks is substantially the same as in my copending application Serial No. 607 ,7 59 filed February 10, 1911. Y o

By making the, elements A, and B separate from each other, the elements of each species may be readily nested, particularly when made of a material which is capable of being bent, so as to occupy a minimum of space and at the same time be solidly packed together to prevent injury during handling and shipment. A large number of blocks may thus be included in asingle shipment and are readily handled and assembled after haying reached their destination. It is of course to be understood, should it at any time and for any reason be desirable, that h elemen s A and B may b a s mb and connected to form complete blocks before being shipped.

In the form of my invention shown in Fig. 2 the block is formed of an elementA which comprises a main portion a from which members a extend at preferably right angles thereto. Members a project from the members a in a direction parallel to the portion a Whilelmembers a extend from the members a in a direction parallel with the members a the dimensions of the said members a being such that the free ends thereof and the main portion a are located in a substantially common plane. In other words the element A is so formed as to have channels a and a which open or face in opposite directions as clearly shown in Fig. 2. ,Thus this form of block in crosssection also has substantially the form of double Us with each U inverted with respect to the adjacent U. That is the members a a." and a form one U extending in one direction, While the two members a and the member a form a U extending in the opposite direction. WVith this construction themembers 0, and a form the side walls of the intersecting channels while the members a* form the bottoms thereof. These elements A are preferably used in connection with an element B which is preferably flat and of a size to accommodate a number of said elements A and which is adapted to exof any material suitable for the pnrpose intended. In using this form of my invention the element B is first placed upon the temporary scaffolding or centering after which the elements A are placed thereon and secured thereto, in such a manner that the longitudinal axes of adjacent blocks extend at substantially right angles to each other and so that the members a extend across and completely close the open ends of the two adjacent oppositely located elements A in the same manner as shown in Fig. 5. In this form of invention the element B if used extends across the spaces between the inside surfaces of the members a or in other words across the channels a and serves to close said spaces or channels and provides a ready and convenient support for plaster or the lilie. If desired this element B may the same advantages as the form shown in Fig. 1.

In both forms of my improvement the concrete or other coalescent material in the intersecting channels in addition to binding the blocks into a solid monolithic structure forms concrete or other beams or girders reinforced by the tie-rods and acting as load carrying elements thus providing a structure of a minimum dead Weight yet capable of sustaining heavy loads.

It is to be understood that the members 6 and a need not be parallel with the members a and a respectively and that said members 6 and a may be inclined with respect to said members 0; and a so that the channels formed by these members will be narrower at the bottom than at the top, thus securing a savingof material without affect ing the utility of the blocks. Furthermore, the member 6 and a may be so disposed as to form conical or other upper surfaces to secure a more perfect arch construction.

Various changes in the specific forms shown and described may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. The combination of two channeled units, one unit being located within the other and inverted with respect thereto, said inner unit being of less width than the outer and forming therewith an open ended complete block provided with open channels extending lengthwise thereof at opposite sides.

2. The combination of two channeled units, one unit being located within the other and inverted with respect thereto, said inner unit being of less width than the outer and forming therewith an open ended complete block provided with open channels extending lengthwise thereof at opposite sides, and means for securing said units together.

3. The combination of two channeled units, one unit being located within the other and inverted with respect thereto, said inner unit being of less width than the outer and forming therewith an open ended complete block provided with open channels extending lengthwise thereof at opposite sides, flanges extending along opposite sides of said inner unit and arranged to rest upon a portion of the outer unit and means for securing said flanges to said outer unit.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FERDINAND BURGHARTZ.

Witnesses WILHELM DORNE, WALTER SoHILL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

